Dark Armor: The New Avenger
by AtticusLegend
Summary: Adam is a kid with a normal average life, everything changes in a chance encounter with a girl at his high school. When helping his friend Peter with a mission from The Avengers, he is paralyzed and clinging to life Stark employs a new technology to bring Adam back and cure his paralysis. At first all is normal until he develops powers all his own. Follow his path to be an Avenger.
1. Chapter 1: My Reason

Dark Armor

The New Avenger

**Chapter One: My Reason**

Adam is my name, its an everyday average name, a boring one even. Normal used to be the bane of my existence, who wants to be normal anyway? Normal didn't make you different, didn't make you special, didn't make you rich or smart, it never helped with girls. Now I think back to those days in high school and wish to go back, starving for normalcy. Something that would never come, not since my incident.

The day I became Dark Armor.

The Avengers, one of the greatest superhero teams of all time, everyone knew of them. Captain America was an idol American children looked up to, Hulk is a pop culture icon, Iron Man was one of the richest smartest men in the world, Black Widow one of the deadliest assassins on Earth, and Hawkeye was, well he was Hawkeye.

So where do I fit in the equation, definitely not Avenger material. At a time I was normal, until I became Dark Armor, the rest was history.

_2 years ago…_

I awoke suddenly drawing in a sharp breath to see my third period science teacher staring down at me with intense brows. His shiny bald head reflected the overhead light above him. I wasn't sure if he had said something to wake me up or if my eyes became overpowered by the glow of his scalp.

"Mr. Barrows, if you are to continue sleeping in my class you will removed from it, do I make myself clear?" His voice was booming and authoritative. I think he may have been pissed, couldn't tell.

"Sorry Mr. Kingsley, your voice is so comforting, makes me feel right at home."

With a huff Kingsley turned away and continued his lecture, I could feel the twenty other pairs of eyes watching me on all sides. I smiled sheepishly, some rolled their eyes and turned back to listen to the teacher's riveting speech, others giggled. I sat back in my chair and returned to my notes, attempting to learn at least one new factoid about Biology before the end of class.

I flipped through my text and noticed a shuffle of papers at the corner of my eye, I turned to see Katie Evans paying close attention to the teacher's words. Katie was definitely out of my league, she was a volleyball player, a pro photographer and she was dating the hottest guy in school, Brad. I didn't know much about him apart from him being a tool, couldn't say I didn't blame her for her choice in men. Even I felt weak at the knees when he bullied me.

She glanced over and smiled at me, I mustered what I thought was a half baked attempt at a smile. The kind of smile you shoot someone you are terrified of but want so badly for them to like you, or at least not think you're a creep.

_So why does all of this matter? Why am I going over my dull high school life? _

You see, high school was a pretty meh experience for me. I was due for graduation in the Spring and I had expectations, normal expectations. Prom, graduate, go to college, meet a girl, start a family, have kids and fifty years later…die. I know it sounds negative but humor me because we're going in a different direction.

Now back to the past, Senior year Spring.

I was running the track for P.E, as far as I knew it was another normal day. I stopped finally after lap four near the bleachers, other students were heading inside from P.E, rules were once you finished head to the gym to play some dodgeball. Which never was as much fun as it sounded. I stood in the middle of the track panting, my friends heading inside behind me, my face sweaty and red from the run.

That was when I heard it, sobbing coming from the bleachers. I walked around the back of the bleachers and saw her standing alone, Katie with a few balled up tissues. I wasn't sure what to say, it wasn't everyday I consoled someone over their emotions.

"I uh, you okay?"

Katie seemed to notice me the first time since I walked over, she straightened up suddenly and wiped her tears away, "I'm fine."

I fought the sudden stupid first response in my head, _most people who are fine don't cry under bleachers by themselves…_

"Sorry I guess its none of my business," I scratched the back of my head. The classic nervous tick when talking to any pretty girl.

_Put your arm down, moron!_

My inner voice screamed at me, "Why are guys such asses?"

I was taken aback by her sudden outburst, "Hey we try our best…"

She paused then laughed suddenly, wiping her tears away once more.

I had no idea what was going on, or what the situation was but I took a shot in the dark. "Sometimes we say and do stupid things, especially around beautiful girls."

"Really?" She smiled, I realized what she may have been referring to.

I stepped back suddenly feeling jitters down my spine and butterflies attacking the inner lining of my stomach. She raised an eyebrow at me in confusion.

"Not you, I mean, wait, no you are pretty I just…" I stopped myself, _push reset Adam, _"Sorry I just made this really awkward."

She laughed to herself a little, her glazed watery eyes slowly melting back to normal. At least his stupidity made her smile. She turned facing out from the back of the bleachers, looking back at the school as their classmates headed into the gym.

She sighed, "I guess you're right, though I never considered cheating a stupid mistake, more of an unforgivable one."

My eyes went wide, _how did Brad manage to cheat on a girl like Katie, isn't she one of the popular girls? How was she not good enough? _

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know." I said,

"Honestly, I'm surprised, feels like the whole school knows about it. How did you not know?" She seemed to take step back in her words, "not that I think the whole school cares about what I'm doing. It's just the people I hangout with aren't exactly the quiet type. One thing happens and it spreads like wildfire."

"No I didn't think you meant that, but why care what others think? I mean if he truly cheated on you that makes him the jerk right?" I said, as she turned to me.

"Its hard to not care about what others think when every aspect of your life is reflected back at you. Honestly, I don't know what's harder, knowing he cheated on me or having everyone remind me every day, its embarrassing honestly."

I thought about my next words carefully, "Katie, I cant tell you how to live your life, I mean you and I don't exactly know each other very well. My advice is probably the last thing you need, I guess just think about what's important to you and follow what your heart tells you. If you think Brad made a mistake, give him another shot, people change all the time. If its better for you to move on, maybe reconsider and go your own way."

Katie seemed to be thinking to herself, here I was trying to give advice to one of the most attractive girls at this school and I had barely been in a couple relationships myself. I didn't care much for Brad, but in a weird detached totally not weird obsessed way, I cared about hers.

I put my hands into my pockets and stood by growing nervous from the awkward silence. Katie turned back to face me and took my hand in hers.

"Thank you…"

I must've looked really confused because she immediately started explaining.

"Not even my friends have heard me out or comforted me, you're very sweet. I'll see you in third period tomorrow?"

"Y-yeah," I stammered.

She kissed my cheek and left through the back of the bleachers leaving me alone in shock. _What did I do to deserve that? _

I didn't realize it at the time, but everything that had happened so far. The path I was on was unavoidable, my destiny was unpredictable, it all started with my reason, Katie would be the reason Dark Armor was created.

**Author's Note: **Hey everyone, I apologize for the slow start to this story. I have lots of plans for where its going to go, feel free to review and let me know what you think. This story is a labor of love for the MCU and the idea of bringing a new hero in fascinates me. I promise the stereotypical high school scenes are almost over.


	2. Chapter 2: Peter and Ned

**Chapter Two: Peter & Ned **

Weeks later things would continue on their seemingly normal path, school was boring as always and uneventful. Katie would smile at me in passing in the halls and sometimes catch me at my locker. I was never good with girls to be honest, but I really tried to be interesting to her.

This particular morning, I stopped by my locker to drop off some textbooks and head out to Chemistry to meet up with Peter and Ned. Pete and Ned were my closest friends over the years in our high school. I pulled my twenty-pound chemistry textbook from my locked and dropped it into my bag. Just then I caught her out of the corner of my eye.

"Adam hey!"

I smiled instinctively, "Oh hi…" nerves kicking in almost instantly.

"Off to chemistry, tell Peter and Ned I said Hi!"

"Oh of course," just then the distant memory of her crying beneath the bleachers on the football field flashed through my memory.

"so, how're things with Brad?" _Idiot, why would you bring up her boyfriend? _

She seemed to stop and think for a moment, I felt my stomach cringing internally at what I just said to her.

"Oh," she said.

"Sorry,"

"No, no, I mean we're okay I guess, we talked about it and its still hard but I mean. Someone told me to follow my heart, I guess its in my heart to forgive him."

"Right, well that's good."

She bit her lower lip, I wasn't sure what that meant. "So do you maybe wanna study this weekend again? I mean it really helped me out last time and I got an A on my last Calculus exam."

I couldn't help but smile, "Yeah sure."

Katie smiled sheepishly as I swung my laptop bag over my shoulder and slammed my locker. She walked next to me as we made our way to Chemistry.

"So I got a couple things to ask you," she said.

I looked over at her, she was full of surprises today. "Got a couple more classes you need help in?"

"No," she rolled her eyes and brushed her brown hair to one side.

"There's a party tonight, its kind of huge, lots of drinks, dancing and obnoxious people from our school. Do you want to go? I made sure it wasn't a school night so you could go!"

"Sorry my parents have rules…" I said, "Yeah so like, who's house is it at?"

"Brad's, you should see if Peter and Ned wanna come to!"

"Sure, I talk to them, I mean I haven't been to very many parties…not really sure what to do there."

Katie's jaw dropped and she stopped walking, I turned to face her, I could see the legitimate shock in her eyes.

"Sorry, I've had no reason to go,"

She smirked and pulled my hand towards her so we were out of the way of passing traffic.

We leaned against the wall in the hallway and she pulled out her phone, "What's your number Mr. Adam?"

I gave it to her and she wrote sent me a text, "There now you got mine."

I smiled a little, trying to hide the screaming excitement. Everyone knew girl numbers were worth 3 guy numbers.

"Looks like your boys are waiting for you, call me later when you get there okay?"

I nodded, "S-sure."

She smiled and left towards her class, I slipped my Stark Industries phone into my bag's pocket and headed down the hall.

"Hey man," Ned was first to speak, like always.

"Saw you talking to Katie Evans," Peter smiled sheepishly.

"Party tonight, I need you guys to come with me." I started almost too excited.

Peter raised his eyesbrows, "Don't know, I'm kinda busy."

Ned butted in, "Party? Right on, I bet Liz will be there Pete!"

"There you go Buddy, Liz will be there, now you have to go." I mocked him, as I noticed my phone light up in my bag.

"Yeah Liz mentioned it before, you should've seen it Pete was all nervous, it was great!" Ned laughed.

"Okay, okay, let's let it go." Peter said.

I looked down at my phone,

_Are Pete and Ned gonna come? _

_Sounds like it, _I answered.

_Great I can't wait to see you guys… _

That night I left a note for my Dad, he was never big on texting and threw some new clothes on. I had never been to a "Cool Kids Party" before, plenty of trio parties with Peter and Ned but nothing more. I fixed my blonde hair and wore a simple dark sports tee and flannel.

As I walked to Ned's house to meet up with him and Pete I got a text from Ned.

_Dude, we need to talk about Pete, _

_Wtf are you talking about Ned?_

_Just meet me at the party while Pete is schmoozing Liz, I need your help with something. _

_Sure man!_

I opened up my phone to the contacts and selected Katie Evans,

"Hey Adam!"

"Hey Ms. Evans," I cringed a little at my own doucheness.

She laughed a little, "When you getting here?"

"I'm actually at Ned's now, once Pete gets here we're gonna roll out should be there in ten."

"HEY KATIE TELL YOUR BOYFRIEND I SAID HI!" Another voice boomed in the background.

"Ignore that please," Katie said, "Listen when you get here I'll be in the backyard, just head on through."

"Sure,"

"I'm holding back until you get here, so hurry!"

I laughed a little, "Sure thing."


	3. Chapter 3: The Party

**Chapter Three: The Party**

Ned, Pete, and I arrived at the party. Ned turned off the key to his mom's minivan and stared wide eyed at the massive glass house.

"Man, if I had the chance to be with Brad, I would. Just for the real estate, I mean wow." Ned moaned; his mouth wide in awe.

"What are you talking about?" I said.

"No I mean, I'd hold back at first, I wouldn't give it all up, but when I did, I would date the hell out of him. Katie is nuts if she's thinking about leaving him…"

"Ned…" Peter shook his head in the backseat.

"Yeah that feels great man, as if Brad needs more propping up than he already has." I said as I checked my phone for texts.

"I'm just messing with you man, just go in and be yourself. I'll be busy helping with the sound system anyway." Ned said as he pulled the door handle to get out.

Peter followed and tucked his glasses away in his front shirt pocket.

_We're in the backyard, 3. _

I joined Pete and Ned minutes later heading for the door. "What's the plan? When are we leaving?" Peter asked.

"Not until the parties over!" Ned yelled as he pulled dark shades over his eyes.

As we entered the front door Ned wandered off to the sound system in the main hall where the heart of the party was. The bass was deafening, the music shook the halls of glass, I surfed through waves of dancing drunken teenagers. The plan was to awkwardly dance through the crowd to get to Katie in the backyard.

I already lost Peter, but he was probably looking for Liz for all I knew. Eventually I made it to the back door to meet my reflection staring back at me in the glass. I hurried out into the night air to find a large brightly illuminated pool, it was full of course, I couldn't help but feel like I stuck out like a sore thumb.

"Adam!" She called to me.

I saw Katie at the other end of the pool waving to me, I was happy she wasn't in the pool. She wrapped her arms around me as I got to her.

"I'm so glad you're here! So I lied…I may have had a couple drinks before you got here." She admitted giggling to herself.

Her friends dispersed as if on cue when we sat together by the pool, I rolled up my jeans and we let our feet dangle in the water. I remember it like it was yesterday, we talked for the first time. Not just idle conversation, it was the closest to normalcy I had come to before I became Dark Armor. Katie was more than an acquaintance, sometimes I wondered if she was more than a friend. That night changed everything.

We talked for what seemed like hours, the party had mostly moved inside and we stayed poolside as the moon rose above us. I remember the reflection of her eyes from the water.

"Yeah so anyway, we moved here when I turned thirteen and never looked back. Met Brad in 9th grade and we dated for awhile…"

I stumbled for a second, "Wait, did you date Brad twice?"

"Adam…" Her voice was low almost disappointed that I hadn't caught on. "I broke up with Brad weeks ago."

"Oh, sorry you just said you forgave him and so I assumed,"

She squinted her eyes at me, "Right, I forgave him, for his actions to help him move on. But Brad, he broke my heart. Hell I heard he had sex with a few girls while we were together, I only knew about the one."

"Oh, I'm sorry. You know, I really didn't know about any of it. Feels like I gave you bad advice."

She shook her head, "No Adam, you gave me the right advice. Everyone has always told me what to do, they would say to stay with him he didn't mean it or dump his ass. It wasn't just that either, everyone gives me their two cents, my own parents expect me to go to Harvard and nowhere else. But you, you were different, you told me to follow my heart and make my decision."

I smiled a little, "Okay yeah that was me."

She laughed at my sudden realization, "I guess I really liked that about you. You had no reason to tell me to do something and you were just there. I needed someone to be there and you were, when no one else was."

"You're welcome," I managed, _come on doofus, you can do better than that! _

I moved my hand to hers and laced my fingers between hers, she smiled back at me.

She blushed a little and looked away, "What is it?" I asked, wondering if I had gone too far, or read her feelings the wrong way.

"Nothing," she said quietly, "just wondering."

I raised an eyebrow at her, "what?"

"When you're going to kiss me…" she looked back at me.

I scooted closer to her and took her hand in mine and leaned in, our eyes closed as our lips were about to touch. Suddenly, there was a deafening deep bass, as if electronics were powering down. Our eyes opened to darkness.

"What the hell?" Katie said.

"The power's out, look!" I said pointing to the distant city, New York City lights going out in sets, grid by grid.

Katie cupped her hands over her mouth in shock and awe at the event unfolding before us as the other guests ran out onto the back patio. I shot out of the water and rolled my jeans back down, I got my socks and shoes on as Katie slipped on her flip flops.

Just then a white, silver substance shot out into the night and a red and blue blur swung over us. I recognized the suit anywhere, "Its Spiderman!" I yelled.

Just then my phone pinged,

_Hey man, we gotta talk about Peter now! Meet me in the van, we need to go! _

Ned had never sounded more urgent in his life. I looked at Katie who was staring at me with a confused look on her face.

"I need to go," I said. I ran through the house, I could hear her flip flops following me.

"Wait Adam, where are you going?"

"Its not important, just stay here!"

Ned texted again, _Something bad is happening in New York City, Pete is already on the way to help, we need to get to Stark Tower! _

I shook my head, "What the hell?" I said to myself.

Katie followed me out the front door, "Adam, it isn't safe don't go, we don't know what this is!"

I turned back towards her, and wrapped my arms around her.

"I'm sorry," I whispered in her ear.

I put hands around her lower back pulled her close to me, I pressed my lips to hers.

"Promise me you'll stay here, stay safe."

She smiled sheepishly, "Umm wow, okay."

I raced out to the minivan where Ned was revving the engine and slid across the hood and landed on my ass on the sidewalk.

"Shit," I muttered as I threw open the passenger door and Ned sped away.

"Ned, what the hell is going on?" I demanded.

"I'll fill you in," Ned said as he turned the corner and we headed straight for New York City.


	4. Chapter 4: New York in the Dark

**Chapter Four: New York in the Dark**

Ned sped down the interstate and took the first exit into downtown.

"Are you going to say anything to me after what I just told you?" Ned said.

I shook my head, "You're telling me that Peter is Spiderman, the Spiderman? As in the superhero we've all been watching on the morning news taking down criminals?"

"Yes," Ned said as he made another turn in the pitch-black city. He raced through the multiple blinking intersections as I struggled to find the words.

"But Pete, he's like a toothpick…"

Ned shook his head, "Not anymore, you seen him with his shirt off lately?"

"You like to look at Pete with his shirt off?" I said.

"Oh yeah, haha. Look Peter told me when they come back the city would lose power. I don't know why, I don't know who, but he wanted to me get you involved if it happened again. We're going to go meet Happy."

I turned my head to him, "Happy? Why do they want me?"

"Look, I don't know, something to do with aliens and a tesseract? Peter didn't tell me everything."

Ned pulled into Stark Industries parking garage under the building, the security guard waved him in.

"Seems like they know you here," I scoffed.

"Being a fried of Spidey's helps…" Ned said as he pulled the van into the nearest parking space.

My phone beeped as we got out and headed for the elevator room. I looked down to see it was Katie.

_Your Pictalk app shows you're in Central, NY at Stark Towers? My Dad works there, what are you doing there? _

I began to type back, _Stalking much? Lol, Idk Ned brought me here. _

We got into the elevators and Ned hit the switch for the top floor.

"Only five security checkpoints to go," Ned laughed nervously.

After a long elevator ride that felt like hours, a bell chimed.

"One more thing, don't let the name fool you. Happy isn't exactly a bundle of flowers."

The doors opened before us and we awkwardly stumbled out into an empty lobby. The elevator closed behind them. We stood together in the small waiting room; Ned had his hands folded in front of him.

"Lots of awkward silences tonight Ned…what now?"

"Wait for it," Ned said.

A few more seconds passed when suddenly a voice came over hidden speakers.

The voice was cool and had a thick accent, "Names please,"

"Ned Leeds and umm Guest."

"Guest? Tony isn't expecting anyone named Guest?"

"Contacting security,"

"Wait, Jarvis! It's me Ned and this is, umm"

"My name's Adam Barrows, I'm a friend of Ned and Peter's, we're here to see Tony Stark. Peter, umm Spiderman told us to meet him here."

"Identity confirmed, welcome Mr. Leeds and Mr. Barrows."

Just then two metal doors before us slid open to a room much more spacious. The walls were high and the ceiling was arched with skylights allowing the moonlight to fill the room. White LED light filled the room, a long clear crystal like table took up a majority of the space, countless chairs wrapped around the table.

Peter sat at one end tapping nervously, his mask lay on the table but he sat with his suit still on.

"Peter!" I said loudly, I couldn't help the excitement, "You're, you are, you? Spiderman?"

He nodded quickly barely cracking a smile, he seemed nervous. Ned waltzed forward and joined him at the table, I couldn't help but feel out of place. Peter obviously knew Mr. Stark and this Happy guy, who were nowhere to be seen. Ned knew every move to get past security, I felt like I didn't know my friends at all.

"Guys," They looked up at me cluelessly, "Seriously, what the hell is this?"

Peter seemed to be thinking of the right response, Ned fidgeted nervously, which made sense I think he was as clueless to my being there as I was.

"Since we all decided to be honest with each other tonight, does anyone want to fill me in on what's going on here?" I said.

"You don't have any questions for The Spiderman?" Ned said smartly.

"We can revisit that when the entire city isn't in a black abyss, Peter what am I doing here?"

"Yeah, what are you doing here?" A smug voice echoed through the cavernous room.

I turned to see two figures emerge from another room, it looked like a lab of some sort. One was instantly recognizable as soon as he entered the light, he had dark brown hair, a goatee and was in simple clothes, t shirt and sweats, Tony Stark. The other not so much, he must've been Happy, Happy was a larger fellow who appeared as Tony's right hand man or bodyguard. It was silly to think that Tony Stark would need a bodyguard, being Iron Man and all.

"Ah, I see you came prepared kid, so what you decided to bring the entire party to my building?" Tony said to Peter.

"I uh, uh, sorry Mr. Stark." Peter stammered.

"Hmm, maybe more like the chess team here right?" Tony scoffed before resting the coffee cup he had in his hands on the table next to Peter.

"Who are these kids Peter?" Happy asked.

"Oh these are my friends, you know Ned," Peter motioned to Ned next to him.

Ned waved with a big smile, "No I don't," Tony said, Ned's smile disappeared fast.

"Dude I helped you fix your Ion capacitors on your suit."

Tony shook his head, "Nah." Tony pointed to me, "What about this bundle of joy here?"

"My names Adam Barrows, Peter's friend, apparently not good enough to know he was Spiderman." I said shooting a glare at Peter.

"Tell me about it," Happy mumbled in the background.

"Look kid, take it easy on the spider kid, he's new at this whole thing. The less people he tells the better, I told everyone 3 and a half years ago and it didn't help my cause. Take a seat with us, before I change my mind."

I stumbled forward trying to remain semi normal in front of Iron Man, Ned leaned forward next to me in his seat. Happy continued to watch from nearby.

"Well I'm assuming if you're all here, you've noticed the power is out in the city. Luckily for Stark Enterprises we have plenty of generator power running in this beast to keep us powered for weeks. The rest of the city wasn't so lucky."

I sat up straighter as if to act like I belonged, "Okay so the city loses power, is that really an Avenger's Assemble kind of thing?"

Tony shot me a glare, Peter spoke up for him, "The last time New York was attacked a device called the Tesseract caused a blackout."

"The Tesseract is missing from Stark Industries, I called on Spiderman to assist and he brought you two." Tony sighed.

"I hate to admit it Pete, but I agree with Tony. What can we do?" Ned said.

Peter tapped on the table nervously, "Ned you've always been my backup on these things, I need you here with Tony's tech at your hands to keep us updated."

"I hate to admit it Fred, but its true, you were instrumental in helping develop Stark Tech and I cant seem involved in this investigation, having you here keeps whoever took the Tesseract unaware of my knowledge." Tony said.

"It's Ned,"

"Huh?"

"My name is Ned," Ned said, "If you need my help, I'm here anything for the avengers."

There was a short silence amongst us as I decided to speak up, "Okay, that still leaves me, Peter, Ned said you needed me here. I somehow doubt its for emotional support."

Tony smirked at Peter, "To be fair Ned wasn't exactly aware of Peter's antics at first either."

Peter drew in a breath, "Look Adam, you know Katie Evans from school."

"Yes, how does she have anything to do with this?" I said with a shaky tone, the confusion rising in my voice as I stuttered.

"Katie's father, Kent Evans is an employee here in Stark Tower. He oversees the department where the Tesseract was being held." Tony explained, "The Tesseract is an artifact of immense power, first unearthed in the second world war, my father studied it briefly. Loki got a hold of it and made a mess of things, with it missing again we can't afford a second battle of New York."

"Makes sense, that's a real shitty situation, but where do I come in?" I said.

Peter chimed in before Tony could speak, "You're dating his daughter."

I must've appeared embarrassed as they all laughed a little at my reaction, "Well I wouldn't say we're dating."

"Yeah okay, you were macking on her pretty hard in the driveway at Liz's party…" Ned said.

"The relationship doesn't matter, what matters is her father may be in possession of one of the most powerful objects on Earth. This girl, you may or may not like could be our best lead, Spiderman and Ned will be on point monitoring her father. Can I count on you to find out what you can from Katie and see if you can dig up some info?"

Tony's eyes were locked with mine; it was the first time I could tell he was being serious. It was a lot to consider, thinking back on it now I would have chosen the normal path. Tell him I couldn't be of help, let Peter know he was a lousy friend for keeping such a big secret from me and continued seeing Katie. Instead I decided in the moment to become something more, that day I chose to be a hero, that day set in motion the events that would make me an Avenger.

"Yes,"

"Great, we're all agreed, Ned you will be known as Origin and will guide the team through comms and support. Petey you keep doing your Spiderman thing, all of you will be given transponders that'll fit in your ear, which will allow you to communicate with each other as well as myself and Happy. Adam your code name will be Dark Armor, remember despite what you may think, you are not Avengers. If things get hairy its better to regroup than engage. Are we agreed?"

I nodded as Ned and Peter did as well, "Right then, we'll get you outfitted and on your way." Tony said as he slid three earbud sizes communicators across the table.

"Let's get to work."


	5. Chapter 5: Bi-Winning

**Chapter Five: Bi-Winning**

It was Saturday, bright and sunny in New York City, I stood on the intersection corner just outside central park waiting for her. Ned, otherwise known as Origin buzzed in my ear, I could hear the munching of his potato chips in my right ear as he folded the wrapper and the creaking of his chair.

"Maybe turn the sensitivity down Ned?" I suggested as I spotted Katie just across the street waving at me. The wind caught her beautiful brown hair, her smile was radiant, I smiled back.

"Hey!" Ned shouted over the communicator.

"You heard Mr. Stark, my name is Origin."

"Okay Origin, if we're going to take this whole thing seriously, maybe consider saving snack time for later?"

"Fair enough Dark Armor." His tone was sarcastic.

"Is that all you two?" Peter's voice came over the communicator.

"Yeah," I said.

"Fine." Origin echoed my response.

"Great, let's get started."

"Right, Dark Armor I'll be monitoring your convo with the sweet Ms. Evans, I'll do what I can to support you. Spiderman what's your status on Katie's home?"

"I'm on my way now,"

"Great, listen team, I know we're not Avengers but if we want to impress Mr. Stark we gotta be Bi-Winning in this operation. Dark Armor will attempt to woo Katie and get information about her father and his whereabouts, Spiderman will get eyes on Dr. Evans, he's been 'out of town' the past few days since the tesseract went missing. Until we can get eyes, we're counting on you Dark Armor to keep Katie busy, keep the date going."

"I'll do my best, going radio silent, about to make contact." I said as Katie finally crossed the street towards me.

"Reaching the Evan's residence now." Spiderman said as a thump was heard on his end. I guessed he just landed.

"Hey!" Katie raced over and threw her arms around me.

"Hi Katie," I wrapped my arms around her.

We turned and started to walk into Central Park, the shadows of the trees stretched over us in the afternoon sun. The sun made it easy to forget the city was still in blackout.

"Remember the route for the longest path through the park. You should be out in two hours if you hit all the landmarks." Origin said in my ear.

"For now, it should be plenty of time on my end," Spiderman confirmed.

Katie wrapped her arm through my right arm, "You know, I was surprised you texted me after the other night."

I looked over at her, "You mean the party?"

Katie smiled, "No actually, the party was great, especially the last part…"

I laughed a little, "Oh yeah, sorry about that."

"No, I liked it don't be sorry."

"Oh well I mean, of course you did!"

"Smooth," Origin said laughing over the earpiece.

"You get a lot of practice?" She asked,

"No, actually, unless you count Ned and Pete."

She laughed again, "You know how to make me smile."

"Ugh gross," Origin said.

"What the hell?" Spiderman said.

We continued to walk, the birds tweeting around us and bicyclists going around us as we walked.

"Brad's not very happy with you," Katie admitted.

"Oh, well I thought you two were broken up?"

"We were, I mean we are. He just doesn't let go easily." She sighed.

"Well that's a future Adam problem on Monday,"

Katie seemed to go quiet for a minute as we continued our walk, "Hey,"

"Yeah?"

"What happened to you guys the other night? The lights went out and you bailed? People at the party were saying you were going to the city?"

"Don't let her run this interrogation Armor." Ned reminded me.

I knew I couldn't straight up lie; she had seen my _Pictalk app _location.

"Well we drove to Stark Industries," I admitted.

"Why? My father works there, it just seemed like a weird coincidence."

It felt like hell trying to lie to her, she seemed so innocent in all of this. I had always had a weak spot for a pretty face though, had to stay focused.

"Oh, my father has done contracts with Mr. Stark and I'd met him a few times."

Her eyes seemed to reflect a mind full of questions.

"Look Ned and Pete are huge fans of the Avengers, we thought we could catch them jumping into action if we drove to New York really fast."

"Dude…" Spiderman muttered.

"Way to make us sound like total losers…oof." Origin said.

Katie raised an eyebrow at me, I could feel her gaze stabbing right through me as if she was trying to find holes in my story.

"Oh, wow. So you left the party to nerd out?" Her tone was slightly humorous, but she seemed disappointed all the same.

"Well, I wouldn't say that."

"I guess I thought Mr. Stark would have a plan for restoring power. Remember the attack on New York?"

"Like anyone could forget that," she said.

"Well, the power went out before it happened."

"So you were worried it was happening again, I guess that explains why you were so intense."

"I mean unless you want to tell her the entire mission, I would change the subject." Origin suggested.

We started across a stone bridge overlooking a small body of water, I pulled her hand to the side and we looked over the water.

I looked into her green eyes, "Katie, I had a lot of fun that night, please don't think anything different. I wouldn't have asked you out today if I wasn't interested."

"I had fun too," she said, "I'm glad I came out, I'm just glad its cleared up."

We started to walk again, after walking for awhile and getting lunch at a hot dog vendor, I realized the time was melting away and we were almost through the park.

"Guys, something is wrong here, there is zero sign of Dr. Evan's existence in this house. I cant find anything on him, not even a family photo." Spiderman spoke up, "Her house is a dead end."

_We have nothing, I need information fast!_

"So you said your father works at Stark Industries?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, he does he's been there for years."

"What does he do?"

She seemed to think to herself, "He works mostly with nuclear energy, he has this big project keeping him out of town."

"Out of town, great…" Origin said.

"Oh, that must be hard, never seeing your Dad…" I tried to empathize with her but in truth I knew exactly how she felt. "My parents work all the time, they're very career driven which means I never see them."

She rolled her eyes, "I think a lot of people our age would do anything to rid themselves of their parents, they have no idea what its like to come home to a dark house every single day."

"What does your Mom do?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Oh, my Mother passed away when I was in grade school."

"Oh, I'm sorry," I said catching my embarrassing question.

"It was hard, when we lost her Dad became distant…then the battle of New York happened."

"What a coincidence, listen closely Dark." Origin told me as my ears perked.

"That was a hard day for a lot of people, everything changed."

Katie seemed to think to herself, "He became distant soon after the attack, you said you know Mr. Stark, you know Iron Man?"

I tried to hide my surprise at her questions, her pretty eyes seem to scan me intensely. "Yes I do, does your Dad know him?"

"Know him? He despises him, the past few weeks have been hard, he left unannounced."

"I'm sure he'll come back Katie,"

She smiled and shook her head, "Gosh, first date drama, with boy problems and daddy issues you must think I'm crazy."

"No not at all, my parents are the same way, I know how you feel."

She took my hand and we were almost out of the park.

"There's nothing here guys, place is pretty normal, I think Dad took his equipment with him." Spiderman spoke over the communicator.

Suddenly I had a crazy idea, "Do you know where he went?"

Katie nodded, "Yes, he has a secondary office in Manhattan he's been staying there."

I paced myself carefully, "What if we go visit him?"

She stopped in place, "I don't know he doesn't like to be bothered while he's working."

"I'm sorry, if I made you uncomfortable with that, I was just trying to think of ways to help. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have suggested that."

She reached for my hand, "No, no, maybe we should go see him, I would feel better if you were there you've been so nice to me it would be nice to have you there with me."

"Okay,"

"Nice looks like we got a plan, Spiderman, can you get back to New York City? Dark Armor is going to Manhattan, he may need the backup." Origin advised.

Katie took my hand and hailed a taxi, whether I liked it or not I was along for the ride. My future as Dark Armor lied in her hands.


	6. Chapter 6: Pulsation of the Tesseract

**Chapter Six: Pulsation of the Tesseract**

We arrived at an office building in Manhattan, the driver dropped us at the sidewalk and Katie led me out of the taxi and around the side of the building, completely ignoring the main entrance.

We came to a side door at the backside of the building, it appeared to be surprisingly low security. There was a back entrance for staff, I stopped in hesitation as Katie slipped a bobby pin from her wrist under the sleeve of her hoodie.

"We're not just going to take the front door?" I suggested nervously.

"I wont tell if you don't" She smirked.

"Wow, did not see that move coming from the popular girl." Ned buzzed in my ear.

"Where did you learn to do that?" I asked.

She chuckled at my ignorance, "We all have secrets Adam."

I laughed, trying not to show my nerves I didn't see this coming.

"I'm in," the door opened on its own with a slow creak.

"Dark Armor, you'll need to be my eyes on the inside, until you're by the windows." Spiderman's voice echoed over the transponder.

"Time to see what's worth neglecting your daughter over." Katie whispered as we slipped inside.

I followed her inside down the first hallway, past an electrical room and up the stairs to reception. I couldn't help but feel she'd snuck in here before, her movements seemed rehearsed and her feet light on the floor. She was so quiet in fact, that I felt like I would blow our cover in comparison. She pounced up the stairs, he feet landing with a soft pat. I tried to control the heavy padding of my sneakers as she quietly turned the bolt on the door leading to reception and inched the door open carefully.

Katie appeared to stop and listen, as if she was testing to see if anyone had seen the door open. After a few seconds she slipped through the door and pressed herself up against the wall opposite of reception. We both hid from view in the dark she grabbed my hand and led me around the outside of the room stopping for cover rarely.

The receptionist was on the phone, her eyes fixed on the computer screen in front of her, "Yeah I should be able to book you for a meeting at ten. Yes Dr. Evans is in tomorrow as well."

I struggled to keep up with Katie as she darted for the elevators behind reception, it was a miracle she hadn't noticed my awkward dance in the lobby. I looked up at the skylights above to see Spiderman watching from above, he was hanging upside down just over the window pane. He adjusted his wrist and rose slowly out of view.

That's when I felt it, the knock you feel when your shoe catches the edge of a rug and I fell forward. Katie lurched for me and grasped my arm, pulling me from view as the receptionist turned to the sound of the scuffle. Katie pulled me into the elevator and slammed the palm of her hand on floor eighteen. The doors shut just as the receptionist came into view to check the folded carpet. The elevator rose in a soothing motion, I never felt so good to feel it in my entire life.

"My bad," I stuttered as Katie grabbed my hand, "That's why I'm here. "

"Where did you learn to sneak around like that?"

"When you're by yourself for days on end with nothing better to do, you get bored. I took some tactical classes a couple years back, it was a free program offered by Shield, my Dad got me in."

"You're just full of surprises," I gawked.

"You haven't seen anything yet." She said.

The elevator doors opened before us revealing a long dimly lit hallway. "Always with the theatrics Dad," Katie muttered to herself.

The hallway had dim aisle lights almost like the one's I had seen on airplanes.

"Dark hallways, its not surprising, low light helps the tesseract remain stable. We gotta be close, Spidey stay close they're on floor eighteen." Origin spoke over the transponder, watching Dark Armor's feed closely.

"I'm so nervous, I've never actually been inside his private lab."

"Never?"

"No he always has me wait in reception." Katie approached the metal sliding door and knocked.

Silence fell upon us, I felt the nerves in my stomach singling up my spine.

"Katie?" A highly pitched voice chimed over an intercom system in the hallway. "Where have you…"

"I'm here to talk Dad, you haven't been home in weeks."

"You know that's not my fault." He answered. "I, I can't just leave my work."

"Clearly he doesn't want his daughter involved," Origin hummed.

"Dad, I haven't seen you in weeks, people are starting to notice you're not around, please."

There was a silence over the intercom, I traded nervous stares with Katie as she balled her hands into fists.

"Can I at least know the reason you can't be home, why cant I see you?"

Just then there was a beep from inside the door and the heavy sliding contraption slid open. I followed Katie inside and stepped into a room filled with monitors, vials and microscopes. Who I assumed to be Katie's father was scribbling on a whiteboard nearby.

He turned to see us and his eyes went wide when he saw me.

Katie started forward, "Where have you been? Ever since you left Stark Industries you've been completely absent."

His brows furrowed in my direction, "Katie what have I told you about bringing your boyfriends to my place of work?"

"Boyfriends?" I said quickly, "Oh sorry, I"

"No you're fine Adam, this is just my friend Adam from school, he knows Mr. Stark." Katie explained as her father began to mumble to himself as he continued his work in the middle of the room.

That was when my eyes fell on it, The Tesseract. A blue cube glowing with an overbearing light, my eyes strained to make out its composition.

"The light isn't so bad when you've been around it for hours on end." Dr. Evans said as he circled the object and began typing away on a nearby computer.

"No matter what this guy says Armor, remember he's a thief, who stole a dangerous weapon from an Avenger." Origin reminded me.

I stepped forward, "Wow, it awesome."

"Also incredibly dangerous, Katie why would you bring a friend of Stark's to my lab?" Dr. Evans lectured his daughter.

"Oh I'm not a friend, I just know a friend who works with him, he's a little much." I admitted as Dr. Evans passed me.

"Honey, I'm sorry about my disappearance the past few weeks. Please know I did it for the good of New York. Mr. Stark has no idea what he's gotten the world into."

"What's so important that time with your family is put to the side?" Katie demanded.

I had to admit, I felt a sense of guilt wash over me, after all she was there to find out why her father had abandoned her and here I was trying to gather information on his science experiment.

"Can we talk about it at home?" Dr. Evans pleaded with her.

"What? In two months when you feel like being a father? I don't think so, what the hell is going on?"

"Look, recently that object over there it started blinking, something about it has become active. Through some brief tests I was able to determine it was sending a signal, but I cant determine where or to whom. Mr. Stark and I didn't see eye to eye on the project, he believes the threat was neutralized after the attack on New York City when Loki was captured by the Avengers. Since I removed it from Stark Tower the signals have become much more frequent and powerful. Everytime I get another signal, I get closer to tracing its origin, so I have to stay here and study it. If I cant continue my research we may never know until its too late."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, though since the alien attack on New York anything was possible. "Do you think its true?" Origin asked.

"We're not here for crackpot theories, we know where the tesseract is, we need to tell Iron Man." Spiderman said over our conversation.

I figured I'd take a shot in the dark, "Maybe its not necessarily sending a signal, maybe it's low on power?"

"Who cares why the cube is blinking? We were here to talk sense to my Dad!"

Dr. Evans shot a suspicious glance in my direction, I couldn't tell if he didn't appreciate me getting involved in family matters or if he suspected my intentions surrounding his research.

"Interesting hypothesis Mr?"

I had to stop myself from saying Dark Armor, talking to Origin and Spiderman all day made it become routine.

"Umm Barrows Sir,"

"Barrows, you seem to have a lot of interest in my work."

I searched my immediate memory for a response, "Well, its no secret what caused the attack on New York."

"I see you're not sold on the God of Mischief theory everyone is so quick to accept…"

"We all saw a magic man flying around that day, the tesseract couldn't have acted on its own."

Dr. Evans raised an eyebrow at me before returning to his work.

"Dad, what are you hoping to get from this thing?" Katie asked, she followed him across the lab as he continued his observations.

I turned to look at the tesseract, the blue green essence glowing within its walls, the light pulsated back at me. I looked up to see Katie and her Father across the room arguing. Just then there was a low hum from the tesseract, it was quiet low, the others in the room appeared not to hear it.

I reached out to touch it, something about the feeling was so familiar, similar to the plasma light balls from the gift stores at the mall. It hummed in response to my touch, the energy within surged and pulsated at my fingertips. It began to vibrate with intensity and the hum became much louder, I pulled my hand away when Dr. Evans ran back over.

"Its changing form, what did you do?" Dr. Evans shouted at me.

"I, I, um." I stammered.

"Time to head out, abort mission Dark Armor!" Origin said nervously.

"I'm sorry,"

"Take it easy Dad, he was just curious." Katie scoffed as she lifted her hand to the glowing cube.

Dr. Evans smacked her hand away and knocked the testing stand it was on. It tumbled to the countertop and emitted a shockwave almost immediately, the force sent me flying back into the door we had first entered, I felt my head smack the metal door blurring my vision upon impact.

"Armor, you okay?" Origin's voice came over the earpiece.

"Ugh…"

"Armor, what's going on with the tesseract?" Spiderman said.

I strained to keep my eyes opened, I attempted to put weight on my arm to get up but paused when my eyes fluttered open to see a blurry figure standing before the tesseract. The outline of the dark shadow was illuminated by the light of the tesseract's energy. The figure appeared to be human, with elegant green clothing and long black locks.

"No, stop…" I managed, the man turned back to me, the tesseract levitated beside him, he walked with a golden scepter, a wicked smile creeped across his face.

"What mortal believes he is above me?" The man stepped out of the shadows, his face was lean and eyes were a bright blue. Even while smiling, his gaze seemed to hide something.

"God of Mischief," I said to myself as Dr. Evan's words returned to my memory.

"No." His voice became deep and wicked, his eyebrows curved down and his smile sank into a grim frown, "Loki."

Loki lowered his scepter to my chest and I felt a pulse of energy rush through my veins, I strained and attempted to grip the floor to brace for impact. I couldn't feel my fingers, my eyes widened something was wrong, I tried moving my legs, nothing, it was like they were asleep or gone completely. I stared down at my legs, still there?

_Oh my god, _

Loki stooped before me, "That's right, let fear consume you, lest you never forget the moment you trifled with the New God of your world."

"Loki?" Spiderman said over the earpiece.

Loki's expression changed, a look of glee spread across his features, "Ah I see you brought friends."

With that Loki turned from me and gracefully stepped to the windows of the laboratory.

Without a single movement from him the glass pane in front of him shattered outward, Loki stepped from the ledge and leapt into the air, he was gone.

"Hold on Armor, I'm patching in Mr. Stark now!" Origin said.

"Too late Ted, I'm on my way now, I saw that Tesseract shockwave from miles away."

"Its Ned…" Origin said.

Tony seemed to ignore him, "Dark Armor do we know where Loki is headed?"

"I, I don't know…" the pain from the blast was immense.

"Adam!" A familiar voice yelled from across the room. Katie raced over, her Father was in tow.

"Damn, the blast paralyzed him, we have to get him to the hospital!" Dr. Evans cried.

Katie placed her hand on my shoulder, I noticed I didn't feel it. "Katie, I'm sorry about your Dad's work."

"Are you serious, that's not even remotely important right now!" She yelled, she tried to pull me up by my arm and my dead weight held me down.

Just then the roar of a jet engine shook the room, the sound made my ears ring. The air became hot and rushed all around us, Dr. Evan's paper and equipment flew in different directions.

Katie stopped trying to lift me as the shining red heavily armored figure entered through the shattered window, Spiderman lowered behind him just outside, he hung upside down and watched intently.

"We're here for the kid," Iron Man's voice echoed in the metal chamber.

Dr. Evans only nodded, "Whatever you want Stark…"

"Whatever I want? That's what I like to hear."

Katie stepped in front of me as I lied in pain against the metal door, "No you can't take him. He's going to the hospital."

"Where did you think I was taking him? My house? We're superheroes this is what we do."

"He's safer with us, he's in no shape to take the stairs." Spiderman pleaded.

"How noble of you Stark," Dr. Evans retorted.

"You know, I was just starting to warm up to you," Iron Man said. "Besides, its not like any of this is your choice," Iron Man pushed right past Katie and pulled me by my arms. He threw me over his shoulder, my legs and arms dangled like a marionette.

I felt pathetic dragging the team down like this. I had bigger matters to worry about, how long would this paralysis last? What did Loki want with the tesseract?

Iron Man stepped out to the ledge of the laboratory window, my gaze fell on Katie, she had a worried look on her face. Whether I meant to or not I played her to get close to her Father's work. Now she was worried about me, this was all my fault.

Iron Man's thrusters powered on and we shot into the sky , the wind rushed over my back, my hair flapped in the wind. I couldn't help but freak out a little of the heights, Spiderman followed us through the air swinging by web. Katie and Dr. Evans stepped onto the open ledge to watch us ascend until we dipped around a building and were gone from view.

It was the last time I would see her.


End file.
